Hopes high despite Kobochapori-1 let down
Despite the hype, Oil India is set to plug and abandon the Kobochapori-1 exploration well after several failed attempts to extract the heavy oil discovered.
"It is a 'technical' discovery (the presence of hydrocarbons is confirmed but cannot be extracted)," reports an Oil India source. "But we are abandoning it."
However, it's not all doom and gloom. Our source stresses that Kobochapori-1 has opened up other avenues of exploration on the northern bank of the Brahmaputra River.
Oil India has informed the DGH that Kobochapori-1 is a 'technical' discovery. "Once the discovery is made, the operator conducts tests to declare whether the discovery is of Potential Commercial Interest (PCI) and merits appraisal," says a DGH source.
Kobochapori-1 lies near Jonai town in Assam at location OKAB in the 543-sq km OALP-1 'frontier' block AA-ONHP-2017/10. Oil India spud the well on May 31 (2024) using a Sindhu Trade Links rig and drilled it to over 4500 metres TD, where it discovered heavy oil.
Initial testing yielded 180 b/d of waxy crude oil. Halliburton tried to extract the oil using vibrations to reduce viscosity but failed.
Our source adds that a Malaysian company next used Enercat technology to try to extract the oil but was similarly unsuccessful. "Finally, Oil India tried nano-emulsion treatment to reduce the oil's viscosity, but even that didn't work," we hear.
"We have now plugged the well after we got some oil and tested it." Despite the failures, Kobochapori-1 remains significant.
On June 2 (2025), chairman Ranjit Rath told reporters in Guwahati that Kobochapori-1 proves the presence of hydrocarbons on the north bank of the Brahmaputra. "There are supplementary surveys planned, and additional wells will be drilled," stressed Rath.
A source tells us the next well, Kobochapori-2, will not be an appraisal but an exploration well. Rath evaded a question about drilling beneath the Brahmaputra, but sources confirm Oil India has plans to use extended-reach drilling to go beneath the riverbed.
ONGC, which holds 30% at AA-ONHP-2017/10, is also upbeat about the discovery. "We are sure there are reservoirs beneath the riverbed," says a senior ONGC source.
"So the north bank discovery is significant."